Strictly Come Dancing star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey found himself at the bottom of the leaderboard last weekend. But it seems it forced him to actually put more into his dancing.
Last weekend, Gladiator Harry made a “mistake” during his performance with pro-dance partner Karen Hauer. As a result, they were only rewarded with 26 points.
However, the pair managed to escape the bottom two thanks to the public, and it was Ellie Goldstein who found herself saying goodbye.
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey addresses dance ‘mistake’
Speaking to Janette Manrara on It Takes Two tonight (November 6), Harry acknowledged how “scary” it was being at the bottom of the leaderboard.
He said: “It was in true Halloween spirit. It was quite scary – more trick than treat. But it was one of those things where you look around and think ‘Here I am’. We had fun.”
Karen agreed, revealing why she thinks the public saved them. She admitted: “We just have fun. Everybody is working hard. But there is that joy that you bring. And the fact that we are not giving up. We get shut down sometimes by the judges but that’s the way it is. I never want to see this man not smile.”
Janette referenced how Motsi believed he took things up another notch after the mistake. And he admitted that was because of the athlete in him.
Harry explained: “I guess I see things in slow-mo. Obviously I am a sprinter. I run up to 27mph. In that moment, whatever happened happened. And I made a quick decision – an out of body experience.
“We either give up. Or we go hard. It is similar in 100 metres. You might have a misstep but it ends up being your best race. I didn’t want to let Karen down.”
How Harry is finding this week on Strictly
Moving on to speak about this upcoming week, Harry was feeling much more positive.
Harry and Karen will be dancing a samba to Samba De Janeiro by Bellini.
Speaking about their upcoming performance, Harry said: “It is a party – but controlled. It is not an open all hours of the day party.”
As for Karen, she explained what Harry has to do to raise their scores.
Karen said: “Bring that joy. He has this positivity. He has got the great bounce and great hip action. And he has got that posture. What else can we do? We are putting everything out there. I want him to have the best time.”
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